Millions of homes could install a boiler and heat pump under net zero plans
Millions of homes may have to be fitted with a heat pump and a boiler under Ed Miliband’s bid to decarbonise the UK.
The Energy Secretary’s department has unveiled plans to establish “alternative hybrid systems”, where households can use a heat pump to warm their homes but retain a small gas boiler to make hot water.
Officials are examining the plan amid growing concern that many people will never be able to replace their boilers with a heat pump because their homes are too small for the hot water storage cylinder needed for showers and baths.
Mr Miliband wants household heat pump installations to hit 600,000 by 2028, up from 40,000 last year.
However, the technology remains prohibitively expensive for many households, as heat pump installations typically cost £14,000. That means that, even with grants up to £7,500, installing new heat pumps remains more expensive than replacing gas boilers, which usually costs between £2,000 and £4,000.
A new report from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “Setting efficiency standards for hybrid heat pumps is an important step in creating a solid foundation for a market for hybrid heat pumps.”
Mike Foster, chief executive of the Energy and Utilities Alliance, the trade body for manufacturers of boilers, heat pumps and radiators, said such hybrid systems would help cut carbon emissions from millions of homes.
He said: “Installing heat pumps in homes can be very disruptive, often involving installing storage cylinders to hold the hot water they produce. But 60pc of UK homes do not have storage cylinders and lack space to put one in.
“That means the halfway house is to install a hybrid system where a heat pump runs the central heating and a small condensing boiler provides the hot water.”
Ofgem, the energy regulator, said such hybrid schemes could be eligible for grants but only for the heat pump part of the system.
Heat pumps are highly efficient, typically delivering up to four units of heat for each unit of electricity needed to run them.
Grants for their installation stem from Ofgem’s boiler upgrade scheme, which was introduced in May 2022 as a way of reducing the 68m tonnes of CO2 emitted annually from home heating – about 18pc of UK emissions.
Most of those emissions come from the 25m homes fitted with gas-fired boilers and another 2m using oil-fired heating.
The aim is to eventually move all boilers to low-carbon heating systems such as air-source or ground-source heat pumps. These work by extracting heat from the environment – either the air or the ground, depending on the type of heat pump.
They then use electricity to transfer the heat into people’s homes where it can be used in radiators, underfloor heating or warm air heating, and to supply hot water for taps and showers.
Louise Howlett, of R A Brown Heating, a member of the Heating Trades Network UK, said hybrid heat pumps could help homes cut emissions and running costs but came with the complexity of maintaining two separate appliances.
She said: “For homeowners considering this approach, ensuring proper design and professional calculations for the heat pump’s capacity is crucial,” she said.
An Energy Department spokesman said: “We are supporting targeted deployment of hybrid heating systems in England through the Warm Homes Social Housing Fund and Warm Homes Local Grant.”
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